Awards and Honors, Business, Free News Articles, Software

SafeChain Named Outstanding Startup by Columbus Business First at 2018 BizTech Awards

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- SafeChain, the industry leader in wire fraud prevention software for land title, announced today that it was honored in the Outstanding Startup category at the 2018 BizTech Awards hosted by regional business publication Columbus Business First. The firm was one of three companies honored in the Outstanding Startup category of the fourth annual BizTech Awards.

"Columbus has been an exceptional location to launch SafeChain, and we are truly honored to have been recognized by Columbus Business First amongst the dozens of impressive technology firms in the Columbus area," said Tony Franco, CEO and co-founder of SafeChain. "The level of talent and local support for startups has been instrumental in SafeChain's early success, and we take great pride in our part in making Columbus a growing hub for innovation and entrepreneurship."

SafeChain was recognized for its wire fraud prevention platform SafeWire(TM) to secure real estate wire transfers, which leverages blockchain technology, as well as its work with the Franklin County Auditor's Office. In addition to helping the Auditor's Office complete the first blockchain-backed real estate transaction in the U.S., SafeChain continues to work the Auditor's Office to modernize the jurisdiction's record keeping by migrating the county's property records to blockchain.

"There are so many more applications for blockchain than simply cryptocurrency, and the real estate industry is a prime example of how this technology can improve a process that's nearly as old as the country itself," said SafeChain CTO and Co-Founder Robert Zwink. "Blockchain helps create a more secure and streamlined property transfer process, which enables real estate professionals to be more efficient and fulfill their ultimate purpose, which is to guide buyers and sellers through this highly complex and momentous transaction."

Columbus Business First launched the BizTech Awards to keep up the tradition of recognizing promising startups, entrepreneurs and innovations in Columbus. The event has been growing alongside the region's booming tech sector, and according to the publication, this year's award received a record number of nominations and an outstanding group of nominees.

To view the honorees of all of the 2018 BizTech Awards categories, visit https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/biztech-awards.

About SafeChain:

SafeChain makes real estate transactions safer and simpler. Built by real estate title experts in collaboration with banking technologists, SafeChain tackles the inefficiencies of the buying and selling process from the inside-out to help title companies, mortgage bankers and realtors decrease costs and deliver a better experience for customers. Leveraging the most advanced technologies, including blockchain, SafeChain increases the speed and security of closings to deliver faster transactions and better consumer confidence. For more information visit https://www.safechain.io/.

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Business, Free News Articles, Real Estate, Software

SafeChain Adds Blockchain to SafeWire to Further Safeguard Real Estate Wire Transactions

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- SafeChain, the industry leader in wire fraud prevention software for land title, announced today it has added blockchain to its wire fraud prevention platform SafeWire(TM), making the company the first in the industry to do so. The addition of blockchain to SafeWire provides increased security for real estate wire transactions by ensuring fraudsters cannot tamper with wiring instructions undetected.

"SafeChain is committed to stamping out wire fraud in the real estate industry," said Tony Franco, CEO and co-founder of SafeChain. "By coupling an ultra-secure, distributed ledger with SafeWire's identity verification and bank-level authentication technology, we have made the real estate wire transaction significantly more difficult to hack, thus providing home buyers, title companies and real estate agents additional assurance that their transaction is as fraud-free as possible."

The SafeWire platform safeguards real estate wire transactions by verifying participants' identities and account ownership and providing a secure portal to transmit wiring instructions. With blockchain, SafeWire now offers a tamper-proof storage mechanism for wiring instructions that notifies users immediately if an unauthorized party attempts to alter the instructions.

"Today, real estate wire fraud is being perpetrated primarily through business email compromise schemes, where fraudsters spoof the email accounts of legitimate participants to fraudulently divert funds. However, this won't always be the case, as fraudsters become more sophisticated in their attempts," said Robert Zwink, CTO and co-founder of SafeChain. "Blockchain provides the most advanced data security available today, and adding this element to SafeWire ensures that our customers' transactions are secure both today and in the future."

About SafeChain:

SafeChain makes real estate transactions safer and simpler. Built by real estate title experts in collaboration with banking technologists, SafeChain tackles the inefficiencies of the buying and selling process from the inside-out to help title companies, mortgage bankers and realtors decrease costs and deliver a better experience for customers. Leveraging the most advanced technologies, including blockchain, SafeChain increases the speed and security of closings to deliver faster transactions and better consumer confidence.

For more information visit: https://www.safechain.io/.

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Business, Free News Articles, Legal and Law, Software

SafeChain to Integrate ALTA Registry into Its Real Estate Wire Fraud Prevention Platform SafeWire

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- SafeChain, the industry leader in wire fraud prevention software for land title, announced today that it will integrate the national ALTA Registry into its real estate wire fraud prevention platform SafeWire. Through the integration, mortgage lenders will be able to search the Registry and verify the identity of title insurance agents and settlement companies, providing an enhanced level of efficiency and security to the real estate transaction.

"The national ALTA Registry is a unique real estate utility created specifically for mortgage lenders," said Paul Martin, ALTA's Registry director. "We're pleased to offer this tool to SafeChain as it looks to deliver innovative products to its customers. The emergence of the ALTA Registry as an effective and easy to use source of data and information comes at the perfect time to help counter the alarming increase in wire fraud."

ALTA launched the ALTA Registry in 2017 as the first national database of title insurance agents and settlement companies. In addition to contact information and branch locations for agents and title companies, each ALTA Registry listing also includes a title agent or real estate attorney's unique seven-digit ALTA ID. As most real estate wire fraud schemes involve spoofing the identity of the title and/or settlement agent involved in transaction, the ability to verify the identity of these individuals using the ALTA ID and contact information contained within the ALTA Registry provides added assurance that lenders are interacting with legitimate parties to the transaction.

"With wire fraud on the rise, everyone in the real estate transaction - lenders included - must increase their level of vigilance to maintain the integrity of the process," said Tony Franco, SafeChain co-founder and CEO. "Integrating the ALTA Registry ALTA ID into SafeWire enhances the level of security we're able to provide to all parties, bringing us one step closer to completely eliminating fraud in the wire transfer process."

Learn more about the ALTA Registry by visiting https://www.altaidregistry.org/.

About ALTA:

The American Land Title Association, founded in 1907, is a national trade association representing more than 6,200 title insurance companies, title and settlement agents, independent abstracters, title searchers, and real estate attorneys. ALTA members conduct title searches, examinations, closings, and issue title insurance that protects real property owners and mortgage lenders against losses from defects in titles.

About SafeChain:

SafeChain makes real estate transactions safer and simpler. Built by real estate title experts in collaboration with banking technologists, SafeChain tackles the inefficiencies of the buying and selling process from the inside-out to help title companies, mortgage bankers and realtors decrease costs and deliver a better experience for customers. Leveraging the most advanced technologies, including blockchain, SafeChain increases the speed and security of closings to deliver faster transactions and better consumer confidence. For more information visit http://www.safechain.io.

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Awards and Honors, Business, Free News Articles, Software

SafeChain Honored as 2018 Seed Stage Company of the Year at VentureOhio Awards

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- SafeChain, the industry leader in wire fraud prevention software for land title, announced today that it was named 2018 Seed Stage Company of the Year by VentureOhio.

SafeChain was recognized for developing SafeWire, an innovative platform that implements a combination of identity verification and bank-grade authentication technology to verify ownership of accounts involved in a wire transaction, secure wire transfers and prevent wire fraud. In addition, SafeChain recently concluded the first blockchain backed real estate transaction in partnership with government. SafeChain continues to work the Auditor's Office in Franklin County, Ohio to move the jurisdiction's property records to a new platform fully backed by blockchain technology.

As a finalist among a highly competitive group of seed-stage company applicants, SafeChain was selected as the winner in its category by a panel of 22 expert judges and honored at the fifth annual Venture Dinner.

"The awards event brought together over 700 investors, entrepreneurs, community leaders, and elected officials to review the success of the Ohio entrepreneurial ecosystem and encourage statewide collaboration," said Falon Donohue, CEO of VentureOhio.

"It's an honor to be recognized as 2018 Seed Stage Company of the Year," said Tony Franco, CEO and co-founder of SafeChain. "Ohio is home to a thriving ecosystem of technical innovation and forward-thinking entrepreneurship, and we are proud to contribute to the growth of the state's business community by building out the next generation of real estate security and records systems backed by blockchain technology."

To view the winners of all of the VentureOhio Awards categories, visit https://ventureohio.org.

About VentureOhio:

VentureOhio is an Ohio non-profit which aims to improve access to capital and foster collaboration in the startup community. For more information visit https://ventureohio.org.

About SafeChain:

SafeChain makes real estate transactions safer and simpler. Built by real estate title experts in collaboration with banking technologists, SafeChain tackles the inefficiencies of the buying and selling process from the inside-out to help title companies, mortgage bankers and realtors decrease costs and deliver a better experience for customers.

Leveraging the most advanced technologies, including blockchain, SafeChain increases the speed and security of closings to deliver faster transactions and better consumer confidence. For more information visit http://www.safechain.io.

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This news story was published by the Neotrope® News Network - all rights reserved.

e-Commerce, Free News Articles, Real Estate, Software

SafeChain Completes First Official Real Estate Blockchain Transaction in the U.S.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- SafeChain, the industry leader in wire fraud prevention software for land title, announced today it has successfully facilitated the sale of 36 forfeiture properties via blockchain. The transactions, which were completed on Tuesday in partnership with the auditor's office in Franklin County, Ohio, marks the first instance in the U.S. of a state government using blockchain to legally record the transfer of property deeds.

"To have Franklin County lead the nation in blockchain adoption for real estate transactions is one of the crowning achievements of my tenure as Auditor, but this transaction is just the beginning," Franklin County Auditor Clarence Mingo said. "Too often, government services are inefficient and out-of-touch with current technology, resulting in wasted tax dollars and a poor experience. The constituents of Franklin County deserve better, which is why the Auditor's Office has set a goal to move 100 percent of Franklin County's property records to blockchain and begin testing the technology to decentralize all county records and systems to create a more streamlined, efficient and secure process for delivering these services to the local community."

The recorded properties were sold at auction by the auditor's office. After the deeds are awarded to the winning bidders, all relevant property information is transferred to blockchain and assigned a barcode, which is then attached to the deed so that the property's information can be accessed via blockchain.

"Blockchain will transform the real estate industry. There's no doubt about it, and the earlier entities get on board, the more they stand to gain in terms of security and efficiency," said Tony Franco, CEO of SafeChain. "Starting with something as relatively straightforward as property transfers, blockchain creates a decentralized, near-perfect audit trail that can never be lost or stolen. Eliminating that risk opens the door to completely changing how properties are bought and sold in the U.S., and those changes will ultimately be to the consumer's benefit, as well as the real estate industry's as well."

In addition to its partnership with Franklin County, SafeChain is also working with officials in Washington and Perry counties as part of a larger, state-wide push to adopt blockchain. In June 2018, Ohio state legislators signed Senate Bill 220 into law, which added blockchain as a legally-recognized electronic transaction in the state.

As Ohio House Speaker Ryan Smith noted in an August 23, 2018 article for The Columbus Dispatch, "This is so new and just starting to take shape that we can position Ohio out front and, most importantly put it out in a way that gives our kids...an opportunity to stay in Ohio and not have the brain drain to the West Coast. It's a great opportunity for Ohio to really start the economic engine on a different perspective."

"As an Ohio-based company, we are deeply invested in not only making Ohio a top-of-mind destination for top technology talent, but we are also honored to help lead the charge to make Ohio one of the most technologically-advanced states in the nation," Robert Zwink, CTO of SafeChain said. "In addition to moving property records to blockchain, we're also working with title companies to eliminate wire fraud in real estate transactions using our platform SafeWire, thus adding an additional layer of security and efficiency to the real estate process."

About SafeChain:

SafeChain makes real estate transactions safer and simpler. Built by real estate title experts in collaboration with banking technologists, SafeChain tackles the inefficiencies of the buying and selling process from the inside-out to help title companies, mortgage bankers and realtors decrease costs and deliver a better experience for customers. Leveraging the most advanced technologies, including blockchain, SafeChain increases the speed and security of closings to deliver faster transactions and better consumer confidence.

For more information visit: https://www.safechain.io/.

*VIDEO (YouTube):
https://youtu.be/0x6JVvd9g-E

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